School Library Journal Review

03/01/2017
Gr 7 Up—This well-documented title vividly brings to life the story of John Bear King and other Sioux code talkers during World War II. What makes this nonfiction text unique is the painstaking detail the author, the great-niece of King, took to research actual coded messages in military archives and transcribe them into the Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota languages. Page consulted not only scholars in this field of research but also native Lakota speakers. The perspective of the Lakota and their cultural values are carefully woven into the narrative, which recounts their history with white settlers from the 1800s to the advent of the Second World War. Page provides a balanced account of the Lakota, who, in spite of numerous broken treaties with the U.S. government, always fought to defend their homelands and the United States. The book is engaging from start to finish, with a well-written text that is enhanced by period photographs and reproductions of significant documents. VERDICT A valuable work for teens studying code talkers and American Indian contributions to the U.S. victory in the Pacific theater.—Naomi Caldwell, Alabama State University, Montgomery

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